It’s been 1,708 days since Haim released their most recent album. It’s also been 588 days since the Jewish sister band released a new song. (In case you’re curious, their latest release was the single “Home,” which was on the “Barbie” album.) Not like I’ve been counting or anything… But now, Haim mishpacha, rejoice! We finally have new music! Well, at least, sorta.
After weeks of teasing online that new music was coming, today Haim took to Instagram to share a 15-second snippet of a single. “I hear a voice in my head and it keeps asking, ‘Why am I in this relationship?’,” Alana, Danielle and Este lip sync to the song in their bathroom. “Baby, how can I explain when an innocent mistake turns into 17 days, fuckin’ relationships.”
Friends, this is an absolute, certified bop and I need to hear more immediately. I’ve also never related more to a commenter on Instagram than the user who commented, “אמא איך התגעגעתי” on Haim’s post, which means in English, “Mother, how I missed [you].” “People use Ima or Ima’le, aka ‘Mom/mommy’ as slang for like either ‘OMG I’m excited’ or as a ‘I’m terrifired/surprised/shocked!’,” Grace Yagel, a native Hebrew speaker tells me. “It is usually screamed when used.”
I think all Haim fans can confirm that we are screaming right now.
Before today, Haim had promised forthcoming new music online through numerous TikToks (see: here and here) and coordinated Valentine’s Day Instagram posts, one of which revealed that Este is engaged! Though the eldest Haim sister has yet to publicly speak about her engagement, it’s likely that she’s engaged to Jonathan Levin, the Jewish cofounder of blockchain data analysis firm Chainalysis. As I wrote on Feb. 13 when investigating the engagement reveal, “According to his LinkedIn, Levin was Vice President of the Bristol Jewish Society at the University of Bristol during his time there as a student.” Meanwhile, in sharing the teaser to her own Instagram story, Este left the commented, “has anyone checked on my exes? didn’t think so.”
Baruch hashem, thank you, Haim, for this beautiful Shabbat gift. Now please drop the rest of the single, and a whole new album, as soon as you possibly can.
